Japan’s ‘konbini’ become indespensable

TOKYO: Stocking anything from shirts to face masks, 24-7 convenience stores have become an indispensable part of Japanese daily life, with the sector now worth more than Sri Lanka’s economy. Their secret? Constant renewal.

A staggering 1.5 billion people pass through “konbini” stores—a Japanese abbreviation of the English word convenience—every month, with some 55,000 outlets throughout the country, including more than 7,000 in Tokyo alone.